The present invention generally relates to board games and, in particular, to a kit in the form of a loose leaf binder which provides a menu of several board games to choose from.
Board games such as chess, checkers, backgammon, Chinese checkers, tic-tac-toe, Monopoly.RTM., Scrabble.RTM., Clue.RTM., etc. which both children and adults enjoy typically come packaged in individual boxes. Each box holds the playing board and the playing pieces for the particular game. In the typical family setting that owns many different board games, it is not unusual for the playing pieces and boards to get lost or misplaced or scattered throughout the house. That is because the cardboard boxes of these games tear and are, in any case, not optimal storage boxes.
Often, families on extended trips prefer to pack several board games along with other necessities. However, the board games take up precious suitcase space. Further, they are not designed to prevent the playing pieces from being lost or misplaced or to provide a single package or kit which includes several, different board games. In short, board games are not designed for the utmost convenience in use in homes and particularly for trips away from home.
The prior art is exemplified by several patents including U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,605 which discloses a music teaching and demonstration system which employs a loose leaf notebook with a plastic pocket attached to the outside of its front cover. A metallic sheet is inserted into the pocket and a non-metallic sheet is inserted between the metallic sheet and the inside surface of the pocket. With the use of magnetic pieces, teaching of music is claimed to be facilitated. The system is also described for teaching reading or spelling. However, this reference does not teach the use of a loose leaf bound kit holding a plurality of board games and a collection of playing pieces for the various games in the manner of the present invention to be described.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,974 discloses a uniquely shaped chess box that has been adopted to also hold a number of various board games and their playing pieces inside the box, which box is simply sufficiently large to hold several board games and their playing pieces. However, the playing pieces are susceptible to being scattered and the board games removed or misplaced.
Another type of game storage box is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,384.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,559 discloses an educational game which does not include a loose leaf for holding a plurality of games.
A game table designed for use in playing a large number of board games which can be brought into playing position on the table by turning a crank handle is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,439.
A game board in the form of a bound book is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 343,496.